Inversions: Catalogue of Calligraphic Cartwheels (Paperback)

by Scott Kim (Author) "I IKE MOST BOOKS, this book is made of words..." (more)
Key Phrases: copying rule, reflective symmetry, one other letter, Basic Variations (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review


"Scott Kim's Inversions ... is one of the most astonishing and delightful books ever printed."
- Martin Gardner, Scientific American --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Backword by Jef Raskin

"Inversions" are words that read the same upside down or in a mirror. Or words cleverly hidden inside other words. Each has something to fool the eye, a special visual trick; at the same time the words Kim has chosen to illustrate in this imaginative catalog of challenging visual wordplay reflect the idea of symmetry, both in art and in science.

Sixty pages of images portray short and long words, words describing symmetries, variations on Gödel, Escher, Bach and on calligraphic themes, and contemporary, historical, and personal names. They are followed by an illustrated text that explores the skills that go into making inversions: symmetry, vision, and letterforms; processes and examples; and associations with music, wordplay, and art. The book is designed so that the text is also symmetrical - what is said in the lefthand column of a page frequently matches the meaning of what is said in the righthand column.

Scott Kim is a PhD. candidate in computer science and graphic design at Stanford University. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 125 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Inc.,US (December 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070345465
• ISBN-13: 978-0070345461
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,315,813 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for unique typographical posibilities, August 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Inversions (Paperback)

I think that every graphitti artist should read this book before defacing a wall. It was written by the designer of the logo for Sun Microsystems and a few others. It is a really facinating book, it shows you how to think the same way as the author, and how to design text that can be read as one word right-side up, and as another up-side down. I highly recommend it.

Darius

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yes except for the Sun logo!, April 16, 2004

By	Stephen E. Witham "aka Mac-Guyver" (Somerville, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Inversions (Paperback)

I bought this book after reading Douglas Hofstadter's GEB. I liked it a lot; I'm the type who fiddles with logos and word- and letter-forms a lot.

The Sun Microsystems logo is a well-known "inversion" that Scott Kim didn't make. I even tried to congratulate him on it once. It's by Vaughn Pratt.

Kim, according to a comment on his web site, did the original Silicon Graphics (SGI) logo.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring letters, October 4, 2005

By	Bruce A. Dunn "Ebonic Plague" (Aurora, CO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I can't stop looking at this book. I already used his concepts to do the alphabetic origami that he does so well for friends and family. Then I actually read the text (side irony: I was too involved in looking at the words to read) and the ideas he gives are great food for thought. Delicious in fact.